Unseeing
by A Girl Called Piplup
Summary: When we go through rough patches in adulthood, sometimes we just need the ones we held dear when we were kids to help us through the tough times.


Yay! Another fandom!

It has been years since I've written anything, so I apologize in advance if there are some spelling/grammatical errors. I wasn't perfect to begin with anyway, but I'm not terrible. At least, I don't think I am... _

Disclaimer: I do not own "Rise of the Guardians" or "The Guardians of Childhood".

* * *

**Unseeing**

Jamie ran a hand through his chocolate brown hair for the hundredth time that day as he paced his childhood room with his phone in hand. The twenty-two year old man wasn't normally one to fidget or pace, he never had been at any point in his life, but the situation he found himself in left his mind flooded with a strange mix of emotions. Nervousness, anger, confusion, frustration and sadness all bounced around inside of him, making his hands shake and his vision blur slightly. He took long, deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, something that he had been trying to do for several hours already. Unable to resist the temptation, he looked down at the message on the screen once more.

_I'm so sry baby, I cn explain! Plz come home! Xoxo_

Jamie scoffed and shook his head. The sender hadn't even bothered with proper spelling!

Suddenly, the phone vibrated and began to let out an upbeat, cheerful tone as the sender's name popped up on the caller screen. Jamie growled and flung his phone to the side, not caring where it landed when it hit the floor with a _crack!_ Silence quickly filled the room once more as the phone died from the impact. The young man could care less if he broke it. He had bigger things on his mind to worry about.

Like walking in on his girlfriend of two years in bed with another guy...

The girl that he had loved from the moment he met her, that he had given up everything for, that he had moved in with... had cheated on him.

He had seen her flirting with other guys at parties and it irked him every time, even though it never went past that stage, not that he knew of anyway. He had discussed it with her and she promised that she would never do anything to hurt him. He ate those lies up and went on believing them, even though the flirting continued and it _still_ bothered him.

When she broke that promise, after Jamie returned home from work early, he stormed out without a single word, started up his car and drove to the place he could still call home: Burgess. His mother took him into her loving arms and comforted him as he cried. His fourteen-year old sister, Sophie, punched her open palm with a tightly clenched fist and swore she would pelt the ungrateful bitch (_"Language Sophie!"_ their mother yelled) with the most dangerous thing she could find. Neither of them minded Jamie taking temporary residence back in his old room since it was still vacant and left for him in case of emergencies, which they both figured they could classify the current situation as one.

Jamie sighed and let himself free fall onto the bed, his face plopping into the soft pillow and barely missing the headboard. He was exhausted from the long, eventful day and hoped that some sleep would improve his mood. Although he doubted he would feel quite so forgiving anytime soon, if at all, towards his soon-to-be ex.

A sharp banging sound on the window caused Jamie to sit up and become alert. He looked over at the window and saw frost start to form on the panes, decorating the glass with the beauty and elegance of ice. The brunette knew that it only meant one thing.

He jumped off the bed, unlocked his window and yanked it open as fast as he could. He stared out into the open night sky and said aloud "Jack? Is that you, buddy?" An icy cold breeze hit his face and swept past him, swirling around the room before settling around the area of his bed, carrying snowflakes with it. A smile covered Jamie's face for the first time that night as he turned to face the vortex of snow that made its way to his bed, although his brown eyes were starting to fill with tears. "I'm so glad you're here." He sniffled as a couple rogue snowflakes made their way to his jeans and stuck to him. "You were right about her. You were right all along, as usual." He let out a short, forced laugh as he looked down and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jumper. "I should have known something was up from the moment she said _'I hate winter'_. It was right after you saw her for the first time and threw snowballs at us." The wind swirled around his face, cooling his heated cheeks and stinging his eyes as he let out a dark chuckle.

His face fell as he tried to change the subject from his problem with his girlfriend. He needed to get his mind off her somehow, otherwise he was sure he'd go mad. He looked up at the empty space above his bed. "I know... I know that you're here, but I still miss you, Jack. So much..." His voice cracked as his eyes glazed over and he remembered the first day he realized he was officially an adult.

* * *

"Jamie! Jamie! Come on!"

Jamie awoke to the sound of a ten-year old Sophie yelling right into his ear and the sensation of her tugging at his pajamas. He groaned and rolled away from her, muttering "It's too early..."

"Jamie you have to get up! It's snowing!"

That woke him up.

He shot upright and looked out his window, a grin spreading across his face as he watched snowflakes gently fall from the sky and cover the ground for the first time in nine months. The normally unpleasant, dirty ground had been blanketed with a thick, beautiful layer of snow, vastly improving the scenery. Every tree and park bench seemed to sparkle magically, as if each individual snowflake had been purposely placed in a particular spot to reflect the light perfectly and make it shine.

Jamie let out a whoop of delight and shooed Sophie out of his room so that he could change into his winter garb. It only took him a few minutes to join his ecstatic sister outside and run to the park, where they were expecting an old friend to turn up. To pass the time they started making a snowman, which they both agreed to use as heavy ammunition against their friend in the anticipated snowball fight that was sure to break out between them. Jamie quirked an eyebrow at Sophie when she giggled uncontrollably, it was strange considering that the two of them had been silent for several minutes. He figured that she was simply overcome with the joy that had been brought to them by the winter wonderland.

A snowball to the side of his head got his attention, and he assumed that it heralded the arrival of their old friend as it usually did. When he turned around, however, there was nothing but empty landscape. Sophie laughed and said "Haha! Jack got you good!"

Jamie smirked, turned to the nearby trees and shouted "Nice one Jack! Now show yourself so that we can get this thing started!"

Sophie's laughter died down slowly and she said "Geez Jamie, no need to yell, he's right there." She pointed opposite her brother.

The brunette turned and looked in the direction she was pointing, but saw nothing but trees, which he figured Jack was hiding in. He began to walk towards them and said "I don't see him Soph."

"He's right-" she cut her sentence short with a sharp gasp. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes shot open.

Jamie spun around quickly and said "What's wrong!? What happened!?"

"J-Jack..." she stuttered as she shakily raised her arm and pointed at Jamie, "you walked through him!"

Jamie felt his heart drop.

"What?"

"He's right there Jamie! Can't you see him!?"

The teenage boy desperately looked around for any sign of his best friend, but to no avail. He kept turning around on the spot, looking for anything that might help him see Jack, but there was nothing that would reveal him. He wasn't sure if it was because he couldn't see him, or because he spun around a few too many times, but his head felt dizzy and his stomach churned.

He looked over at his sister once more, who had wrapped her arms around nothingness and was whispering words of comfort to thin air. She looked up at him with big, teary eyes and he felt himself sink to his knees in horror and disbelief, not knowing that Jack had done the same.

"But how... how can this..." His throat constricted and his eyes started to burn as tears began to form. "This can't be happening, it can't be! I still believe in him! I know you're real, Jack! I know you are!"

Jamie could not stop the tears that streamed down his cheeks. He didn't even realize he had begun to scream, or that his best friend was sobbing into the shoulder of his little sister.

* * *

It had confused the poor teen to no end, but eventually he concluded that during Jack's time away he must have transitioned into adulthood. It was the only logical explanation he could think of as to why the spirit was no longer visible to him, despite his strong belief in him to the present day.

"It hurts, you know?" Jamie choked quietly as he felt the tears start to fall once more. He could only imagine how Jack must have looked at the time. He probably wasn't much better than himself. "It's almost as if you're dead. Like... like you're really dead and that I'll never see you again. No matter how much I want to." He didn't care if he was a full grown man or that he was in the presence of another, he allowed himself the rare moment of sorrow and cried. It wasn't just tears falling down his face; he let himself quietly wail as he clenched a fist in front of his face.

The cold winter wind swept through his hair, like a cold hand running through his brown locks in an attempt to comfort him. The weeping man hugged himself as he sat himself on his bed and rocked back and forth gently, letting the cool breeze brush against his face and hands. The touches of the air had a calming effect on him, and slowly he started to calm down, although the endless river of tears refused to stop soaking his face.

Jamie took several sharp gasps of air and gulped in an attempt to rid his sore throat of the knot that seemed to settle in there. With a ragged voice he whispered "I'm sorry Jack. I know you hate seeing me like this, but..." he paused and gulped once more, soothing the ache that was trying to steal his voice away, "... my life has turned around so much, and... I just wish my best friend was here to help me..."

Feeling fatigue get the better of him, Jamie slowly lowered himself face first onto the bed and closed his puffy eyes. Before darkness could overwhelm him, he muttered into the pillow "I wish you were here, Jack."

...

"I'll always be here Jamie."

Jamie's eyes snapped open and he shot up so quickly it made his head spin. He turned and faced the window, hoping that he hadn't just imagined his friend's voice.

And there he was.

Sitting at the end of his bed, staff in hand and a startled, yet concerned, expression on his face was Jack.

Jack Frost. Jamie's best friend.

"JACK!" With lightning speed that could match his own, Jamie leapt at Jack and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Jamie?" Jack stayed perfectly still, unable to believe that Jamie was able to see and touch him again. After sitting as stiff as a board for a few more moments, he felt his body shake from the sheer happiness of regaining contact with his old friend. With tears forming in his bright blue eyes, Jack let his staff clatter to the floor and raised his arms to return the hug.

"It really is you!" Jamie pulled back to get another look at the spirit. "You're here! I can see you!" Before Jack could get another word in, Jamie had pulled him back into another bone-crushing hug.

Jack patted his back gently and sniffed. "Hey man, no need to turn the waterworks on." The two of them shared a tired laugh and a few tears, notwanting to let the moment go.

Despite what had happened to Jamie earlier that day, he could never have been happier.

* * *

Jack sat just outside Jamie's window and watched the young man roll over in bed to face his direction. The tears on his face had dried and a small smile adorned his exhausted face. Above his head were two miniature people made of golden sand. Jack knew exactly what the dream was about. He was the one that requested it, after all.

Jack watched with a sad smile as the dream sand figures over Jamie's head embraced each other. As the sand faded away he looked up towards a golden cloud in the sky.

"Thanks Sandy."

* * *

I would hate to be Jamie when he wakes up...

I kind of hate myself for taking away his happy ending like that, but for some reason I write angsty stuff better than happy stuff... blech. I hate that about myself. I swear I'm not a depressing person in real life! For some reason my talent lies mostly in sad stories.

Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated, but not necessary ^_^

No flames though, of course. I already live with a pyromaniac, so I don't need any more of those…

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll update soon!

~Piplup~


End file.
